Orthodontic appliance



March 25 1924. 1,487,698

J. ADERER, H I ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCE Filed July 2, 1921 Patented Mar. 25, 1924.

UNETED STATE- FATE JULIUS ADERER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCE.

Application filed July 2,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULrUs Annnnn, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Orthodontic Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to orthodontic appliances and more particularly tofastening devices for orthodontia bands or expansion wires which in dentistry are customarily located along the lingual or labial parts of the dental arch for the purpose of correcting imperfections in the positions of the teeth. These wires are generally detachably secured to metallic bands placed upon suitable teeth at opposite portions of the dental arch, usually at the rear thereof. In order to provide a device efficient for its intended purposes, it is necessary that said wires be locked against unintentional displacement by the patient and so as to be readily removable by the operator when a new adjustment of the wire is required as correction of the imperfections proceeds. Heretofore it has been attempted to secure this result in many ways, all of which, however, have been unsuccessful because the locking device has been susceptible of displacement by the patient, for instance, by manipulation of the tongue, by chewing certain substances and in other ways. The particular object of the present invention is to provide an orthodontic lock which is simple in construction and easy to apply and which is readily removable by the operator when required, but which cannot be displaced by the patient, either intentionally or unintentionally, and whereby the expansion wire is firmly and securely held in its intended location along the lingual or labial portions of the dental arch. Other more specific objects of the invention will appear from the description hereinafter and the features of novelty will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate examples of the invention without defining its limits, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a dental arch with my improve.- ment applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the lock'on an enlarged scale; Fig. 3 is a sectional view thereof; Fig. t illustrates the elements of the lock disconnected from each other, and Figs.

1921. Serial No. es2,1 1o' 5 and 6 are detail views illustrating another form of the invention. 7

The locking device comprises two members one of which is in the form of a socket or shell 10 constructed of suitable metal and preferably of approximately half-round form in cross-section; in other words, said socket or shell may be provided with a flattened 'wall a, and with a curved wall '6 extending therefrom, as shown in Fig. 2. The other member of the lock consists of a plug 11 of suitable metal corresponding in crosssectional form to that of the socket and adapted to fit therein, said plug being preferably of somewhat greater length than the socket, so as to project beyond the same at opposite ends when combined with said socket, as shown in Fig. 2. Both the socket 10 and plug 11 taper slightly toward one end, not only in, a plane parallel with their greatest width but also 'in a plane transverse thereto or which intersects the'first plane, as shown" in Fig. 3.

In practice the socket 10 is fastened to the customary metallic band 12 which encircles a suitable tooth in the dental arch, the connection being efie'cted in any convenient manner, as by soldering the wall a of said socket in surface engagement with the band 12; the plug 11, on the other hand, is connected with one end of the expansion wire 13 by soldering or otherwise, the wire preferably extending over and being fastened to the larger end face of said plug, as shown in Fig. 1. It will be understood that the expansion wire 13 may be of any customary form and type, and further that plugs 11 are located at opposite ends thereof for cooperation with sockets 10 carried by bands 12 suitably positionedat opposite points of the dental arch, the wire 13 extending along either the labial'part of the dental arch or the lingual part thereof, this depnding upon the character of the trouble which is to be corrected. The wire 13 is placed in operative position by simply inserting the plugs 11 into the co-operating sockets 10 under a suflicient pressure to firmly seat said plugs therein,- this operation being facilitated because of the tapering form ofboth plug and socket; in other words, the relatively s1naller ends of the plugs are readily introduced into the relatively larger ends of the sockets and thus reduce the necessity 'for careful manipulation and positioning of the parts to a minimum.

lVhen the lock parts are combined with each other, the inner faces of the straight walls a and curved wall Z) of the sockets are in surface engagement throughout with correspondingly shaped faces of the plug 11, and because of the .tapering form of the parts, are securely wedged together against unintentional separation. Because of the fact that the large ends of the plugs are presented in a direction toward the active faces of the teeth, as shown in Fig. 1, any pressure on the plugs resulting from the operation of chewing by the patient will only tend to force the plugs 11 more firmly into the sockets 10, thus increasing the hold thereof; at the same time, if the substance being chewed is of a nature to stick to the plugs 11 and exert a withdrawing force thereon, the relatively large surface engagement of the plugs with the sockets and the peculiar character thereof will create sufficient frictional resistance to neutralize such withdrawal force and thus prevent the unintentional displace ment of the plugs from the sockets. Furthermore, the frictional resistance referred to will be sufficient to prevent any manipulation of the tongue of the patient from forcing the plugs out of the sockets by a pressure thereon so; that the expansion wire will be firmly and securely held in its intended location against any unintentional displacement or shifting.

At the same time the plugs 11 may be easily and quickly removed from the sockets by the operator, with the assistance of a suitable instrument, such as a pair of pliers, applied to the small ends of the plugs and to the opposite ends of the sockets and exerting a force tending to push said plugs out through the enlarged ends of the sockets. In some cases, the socket 10 may be provided at an intermediate point with a projection adapted to form a bearing for one of the jaws of the pliers, said projection, in the illustrated example, being shown in Fig. f in the form of an external bead 10 The provision of such a projection prevents injury to the socket 10 from the pressure or force exerted by said pliers. Adjustment of the expansion wire in accordance with the particular dental trouble being treated or with the progress of a correction thereof is thus readily possible, after which the wire may be easily and quickly replaced in position with a minimum of efiort and withno discomfort to the patient. In other words, the present arrangement provides an eflicient lock for orth'odontia which is easily placed in position and readily removed by the operator, but which cannot be unintentiona-lly or even intentionally displaced by the patient.

' In some cases it may be desirable to split the plugs 11 lengthwise, as indicated at 0 in Figs. 5 and 6, so that after said plugs have become slightly worn throu h use, a perfect and eiiicient fit in the sockets may be again secured by simply spreading the plug slightly at the split. Otherwise, this form of plug and its connection and co-operation with the sockets may be the same as previously described.

Various changes in the specific forms shown and described may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. two part orthodontic appliance comprising longitudinally smooth surfaced separable members of such relative configuration that when the two are in close surface contact with each other, the two parts become so firmly united so as to become incapable of separation by manual means, or by any of the effects of use, but only by an instrument, said two parts comprising respectively a tubular socket open only at its opposite ends and having continuous walls forming a receiving recess of fixed outline and a plug having a continuous rigid surface conforming to the crosssectional form of said socket and adapted to fit into said. fixed recess in surface engagement with said socket so as to be completely enclosed thereby, said socket and plug being both tapered toward one end with the same degree of convergence.

2. A two part orthodontic appliance conr prising longitudinally smooth surfaced separable members of such relative configuration that when the two are in close surface contact with each other, the two parts become so firmly united soas to become incapable of separation by manual means, or by any of the effects of use, but only by an instrument, said two parts comprising respectively a tubular socket open only at its opposite ends and having continuous walls forming a receiving recess of fixed outline and a plug having a continuous rigid surface conforming to the cross-sectional form of said socket and adapted to fit into said fixed recess in surface engagement with said socket so as to be completely enclosed thereby, said socket and plug being both tapered toward one end in planes which coincide.

3. A twopart orthodontic appliance com: prising longitudinally smooth surfaced separable members of such relative. configuration that when the two are in close surface contact with each other, the two parts become so firmly united so as to become incapable of separation by manual means, or by any o h cts of u e ut. on y by an stru- 11.181111, i W pa c mpri n ese t ely u ar wk t Open only at s pp i e ends and having a rigid unbroken flat wall and a rigid unbroken curve-d wall connected e wi h f0 e i ei n recess of; fixed outline, and a plug having a continuous llll) rigid surface conforming to the cross-sectional form of said socket and adapted to fit into said fixed recess in surface engagement with said socket so as to be completely enclosed thereby, said socket and plug being both tapered toward one end with the same degree of convergence.

4. A two part orthodontic appliance comprising longitudinally smooth surfaced separable members of such relative configuration that when the two are in close surface contact with each other, the two parts become so firmly united so as to become incapable of separation by manual means, or by any of the effects of use, but only by an instrument, said two part-s comprising respectively, as one element, a pair of metallic bands adapted to fit upon teeth and sockets and having fixed and unbroken cross-sectional shapes secured to said bands, and, as the other element, plugs having continuous rigid surfaces conforming to the cross-sectional forms of said sockets and fitted into the same so as to be completely enclosed by said sockets, and an expansion wire connected with said plugs and adapted to extend in a predetermined location along the dental arch, said sockets and said plugs tapering toward one end with the same degree of convergence and lying in surface engagement with each other.

5. A twopart orthodontic appliance comprising longitudinally smooth surfaced separable members of such relative configuration that when the two are in close surface contact with each other, the two parts become so firmly united so as to become incapable of separation by manual means, or by any of the effects of. use, but only by an instrument, said two parts comprising respectively, as one element, a pair of metallic cross-sectional form of said sockets and fitted into said sockets in surface engagement therewith and completely enclosed thereby, and an expansion wire connected with said plugs and adapted to extend in a predetermined location along the dental arch, said sockets and plugstapering in directions away from the active faces of the teeth and in planes which coincide.

6. A two part orthodontic appliance-comprising longitudinally smooth surfaced separable members of such relative configuration that when the two are in closevsurface contact with each other, the two parts become so firmly united so as to become incapable of separation by manual means, or by any of the effects of use, but only by an instrument, said two parts comprising respectively, a tubular socket open only at its opposite ends and having a rigid unbroken fiat Wall and a rigid unbroken curved wall connected therewith, and a plug having a continuous rigid surface conforming to the crosssectional form of said socket and adapted to fit into said socket in surface engagement therewith and completely enclosed thereby, 7

said socket and plug being both tapered toward one end with the same degree of convergence, and said plug being formed with a split extending toward its reduced end and terminating at a distance therefrom.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JULIUS ADERER. 

